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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Robot teachers

Many Hollywood films describe the future and show futuristic gadgets that seem alien to the world we live in today, although the way with which technology evolves rapidly makes anything seem possible. Seeing the film I, Robot starring Will Smith we see how jobs are taken from humans and given to robots. This unfortunate topic has become a reality in primary schools in South Korea. KAIST ( Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) introduced a robot with a screen in place of a head.
The robot teaches English, reads books and dances, moving its hands and head-screen. Currently there are 29 robots around the country. Kim Mi-Young explains that the robot helps the shy students get more involved in class.
This project is disturbing, since this will be a major problem in the future. Maybe the film I Robot will seem prophetic and humans will in the future lose their jobs to robots. Also ethical dilemmas are involved, concerning child psychology. How will a robot explain feelings, show compassion or even hug a child who needs love? I may not be the most experienced in the field but these are practical issues a teacher has to deal with, especially when teaching in primary school.
Other Governments should be critical towards this project and maybe discard it since it will create ethical and practical problems not only for the pupils but also for the teachers.

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